Young Writers Society

Gatlin, Day 1--8:30 am

Puppets, they were. He tugged on their emotions and they swooned; the girls melted under his touch. "And girls, I do do more than ride dinosaurs." Gatlin grinned and turned his gaze, catching a curvy red hourglass gliding out from a house a few yards back.

It wasn't rude to him. Just a way to flatter her.

So that's what he did, that hot-headed Gatlin; he cat-called her.

Within the two second span between the initial sound coming from his narrow lips and the raging Toro rushing at him, Gatlin assumed that the hourglass had been previously claimed.

Turning his gaze swiftly, he grinned, noting the oncomer as Paul-- the respected and trusted leader. It didn't take much, really. Just a whisper.

"You know... These followers you have like you best for your honesty and integrity, Polly." Gatlin smirked and tossed an empty water bottle at Paul's feet after watching the nerves tighten in his face.

"Take care, ladies." The puppets melted accordingly.

(I'm a little confused, but here I go)

[Lily, Day 1- 8:30]

I found it funny that everyone was paying so much attention to Celia. Okay, she was beautiful, and I'm pretty sure that if I were to strut my stuff in a small red dress I would get attention, too. But I was more than that. I was a warrior, leader of the Gaurd. I was invinsable. All the boys were probably jealous of my power and strength anyways.

I crawled back in my tent and lay down, hoping to get some sleep. Yes, it was morning, but I had been out all night protecting these pitiful humans from dying. They depended on me, so why didn't they treat me like they did?

Then, just as my lids were cascading down my eyes, a large thud interrupted my slumber. Paul had rushed at Gatlin and tripped. Goodness.

I stepped out of my tent, my uniform half-off and my chest almost bare, but they payed no attention to that. They knew that they were going to get it from me.

"Sissies! Do you know who has to stay up all night protecting your sorry butts? Me! If you could pay some respect and not trip right outside my tent, that would be great."

"Appplogies, Lily," someone said.

"Oh shut up," I mumbled and slipped back in to my sanctuary.

Ceilia; Day 1, 8:30am

Ceilia slid out of the small house, closely followed by Sofie, who was skipping about. Upon hearing a loud whistle, Ceilia turned her head to see Gatlin watching her. She was about to give him a hard glare when a movement caught her eye. She saw Paul, charging at the man.

Dammit, Paul.

She was about to call out to him when he stopped short. Galin was whispering to him, though Ceilia couldn't tell what he was saying from where she was standing. She waited a moment until she could tell he had stopped talking before calling out.

“Paul!” She said sternly, jerking her head towards the house. Paul swung round quickly to see he massively overreacted and Sofie was looking confused, calming down he walked back,

"Yes, I know...don't react.” he said. Ceila grabbed his arms, glaring at him.

“Do you want to loose the house, or worse, get kicked out of this place?” She growled.

"Sofie deserves better than this!"

“Does Sofie deserve to be thrown out for the dinosaurs?” She challenged, slightly loosening her grip.

"I...but... he... you... oh...." Each of Paul's words came slowly, and seemed to come out somewhat painfully.

“Don't do it again.” Ceilia pleaded, no longer masking her fear.

"She must never see... must never see... I still dream about what I did, Ceilia, she can't know... I overreacted... but she's best thing we have, you know that don't you?" He whispered the question, though it was more of a statement than anything. Ceila nodded.

“Just be careful.” She said quietly, letting go of his arms.

Gatlin, Day 1-- 8:47 am

Kreeeeeeigh-oihhhh-yaaah!

Velociraptor. Half a mile away. Either declaring its prey or calling a mate... Both of which were never very easy on the eyes.

Gatlin wondered silently which octave would be from the mutated raptors... He imagined it would be much higher with implanted human DNA, but there was no way to be sure beyond his memory and experience.

"Just... Just take the taser rod and subdue her."

"But... What if she attacks?"

"Then, boyo, you lose an arm."

He gulped, took a step, swallowed his fears and kissed his ass goodbye. Slowly, he outstretched the four-foot steel rod to the uncaged raptor and winced as he shoved the tiny, charged razor points into her spine. She let out a deafening wail and fell to the ground, siezing shortly before passing out in a huge lump of deadly meat.

"Nice work. Now try to do it without shaking like a little girl."

Danger. It was her danger call.

Gatlin grinned, lunging forward onto the twenty-foot steel ladder that led up to the high walk that circumscribed the facility along the high walls. He pulled up on his torso several times until he stood on the wall, looking out over the deserted landscape.

And there she was: a long, outstretched raptor with the most beautiful gray scales he'd ever seen. From her head to tail was nothing but undisrupted, deadly beauty...with one exception in the middle.

Gatlin cringed.

Standing over her, jaw clamped over her rip cage, was a rex thrice her size that looked hungry, still. His violent green eyes roamed around after his meal, and he let out a roar, sensing no life around him.

For two seconds that he'd never tell anyone about, Gatlin shook with fear. Not because of the rex just a half mile away from him; but because of what he knew.

This place is a death sentence.

[I'm with Jones -- nooot particularly sure if I'm accurate. You guys are pretty good at catching my mistakes though and telling me about it, so just do your thing.]

[Rose, Day 1 - 8:47 AM]

She laid back lazily in her chopper's front seat, her feet kicked up on the dashboard and her hands behind her head. While everyone at the camp were flirting and fighting, why not just chill out somewhere more peaceful and less crowded. Besides, they weren't getting anything done down below.

The only too-familiar sound of dinosaurs roared not too far away, but she didn't go jumping to her feet right away. As far as she knew, they weren't any potential threat. However, her eyes did pop open. She could most certainly be wrong, in which case she'd be the first to attack.

Her eyes fell on some idiotic show-off jumping up a ladder with great agility, but she knew why he was jumping to the top of the wall: The pair of dinosaurs fighting not too far away. He must've been worried they were under attack or something. That makes two of us, she thought, though I wouldn't have minded a little action. She suddenly lost interest in him and the dinosaurs, looking away to the blue sky above her.

Before she knew it, she was standing outside her chopper and sitting on the edge of the platform, legs dangling over the side. Her eyes searched for Paul, their strong and courageous "leader" whom everyone followed blindly. Was their plan really to just chill out here until the walls are torn down by a stampede of dinos? She didn't like it at all and was prepared to venture outside herself if it came down to it.

And naturally, there was no sight of him or Ceilia. Or even Sofie. Whatever. She just sat there then, looking out at the land overrun by dinosaurs. Her fingers tapped impatiently, and she bit her lip. She itched for some action.

Kris Allen Day 1 2:23PM

I woke up late-as usual. Sauntered out of bed and had a shower. At the age of 23 I was reduced to doing the job of rebelling teenager, and by this I mean waking up late to anger my parents. Not getting a job, never listening to them, never doing anything! Constantly being a schmooze(my mothers word exactly.)And being the bane of my 'amazing' parents existence.

I grabbed a t-shirt and a jean skirt. It was getting kind of hot-not a bad time to get a tan, especially when exploring....but parents to annoy and unwarranted nonsense to spew.

I walked out of the house and into the street. I heard the roar of the dinosaurs, it shook me to my very core but I didn't really care....I'm going to die anyway. Just one chomp! Hopefully its a very nice T-Rex....Okay so maybe I didn't want to die.

I walked into my gate leading to my parents lab but I wasn't going to the lab. I was walking behind it. I searched for the yellow curtain that i had used to hide the crack in the wall.

I slipped into the woods slowly so that no one saw me. I was going exploring, Dinosaur or no Dinosaur. And the Dinosaurians could stick it.....well anywhere really.

Samara, Day 1 - 2:48pm:

I watched Gatlin, unimpressed, as he took a raptor for a ride. This was the second time I'd been up on the lookout post. I sighed, shaking my head. Gatlin was such an idiot.

He went right around the compound and then she stopped, the raptor. She fell over and Gatlin started waving his arms at us. Then the roaring T-rex startled everyone.

I surged forward, leaning over the railing. "Gatlin!" I screamed but the idiot was too busy doing a victory dance. "Oh, that idiot," I muttered and turned around, startled to find Paul just standing there watching Gatlin.

He sighed, shook his head and picked up the warning thing. He pressed a button and sat it on the edge of the railing. I looked back towards Gatlin to see him pause and turn around, and then he started running.

I don't know why he had to show off like that, or why all the girls had to drag me along to watch him, but I just wasn't interested. Liar, said a little voice at the back of my mind. I firmly told it to be quiet.

Gatlin reached the compound and started climbing up the side of the building, having amazingly already outrun the T-rex. He reached the top and climbed over, sitting down beside me. He grinned crookedly and then started laughing. I didn't find it one ounce of funny. Not at all.

*Yeah, couldn't think of what it was called. Anyways...**

Gatlin, Day 1-- 2:49 pm

It took a special kind of idiocy to face a dinosaur, and it took a special sort of miracle to outrun one. Gatlin didn't see it as cowardly. Quite the contrary, he found himself shimmering with pride...or was it sweat?

The girls around him gave the desired reaction: swoon, giggle, touch, giggle, swoon. That is, except for Samara.

Was she a threat?

Gatlin turned, watching her stern, unwavering face. She could've been a mannequin for all he knew, carved to look angry and unpleased at all times. He tried to urge a smile from her, but she remained completely frozen in her eternal state of "You idiot." After a full minute of seeing nothing but her brilliant eyes, he shifted his gaze back to the young audience he had accumulated in the feat. That is, until someone jerked him up to his feet.

"You're a fool," said Paul. "You could've killed yourself and you endangered all of us." He released Gatlin's shirt collar and scoffed at him. "You're off watchtower duty. I'll trade your duty with Kristina from the Chantry." He glowered in the midday sun. "I hope you like hymnals."

Sienna Afton - Day 1, 2.55 PM

The copter sputtered one last time before Sienna finally let out a sigh of relief. Thank God. It wasn't blowing up. She wasn't dying.

But everyone else back in their fort was. Everyone, including Asher.

At that thought her knees weakened and she felt like crawling to a corner. She'd failed. She didn't finish her research on time. Sienna glared at the briefcase on the seat beside her. It wasn't potent enough. The people in Hong Kong were doomed, and they sent her to America because they believed in her.

Even after she failed.

Then on the way here, they were attacked. And Brianna sacrificed herself for Sienna. They all believed her, were willing to die for her research. But what if her research wasn't going to pan out? What if it would fail?

No. No. Thoughts of failure were unacceptable.

"Sienna, are you all right?" Drake asked. "We've already kind of landed."

"I'm fine. Everything's fine." Sienna forced a smile. At least Drake survived the attack. At least she wouldn't be alone.

She retied her straight hair into a high ponytail and grabbed her things. Though she tried to get out of the copter gracefully, she failed at stumbled out and had to hold on to Drake for support. That was all she was now. A failure at everything.

The wall of the fort was right in front of her. She squinted up at it.

Never again. She'd never fall for another person again. Never the way she loved Asher.

She took a moment to compose herself and clear herself of any emotions that may interfere with her rationality.

"And who are you?" called a voice from above.

"This is it, Sienna. We've got one more chance," Drake murmured.

"One more chance," she repeated.

Here went nothing.

[Lil, Day 1-2:48]

Lil was just waking up when she heard the loud cries of a T-Rex. She up and ran outside to the gates to find Gatlin running towards the compound, a giant dinosaur chasing him.

One side of Lil was jealous. She had never been on guard when that big of a dino had showed nearly anywhere close to the camp.

The other side was nervous. Even though she didn't know Gatlin at all, and so far had taken him to be a show-off jerk, much like herself, she still felt scared. And Lil was never scared. Had she become soft? No.

Lil had become many things since a traitor killed her father, but soft wasn't one of them.

Rose Banks 2:55

That wasn't very cool.

After watching that whole excitement involving Gatlin, Rose suddenly wished she was involved. Not involved like Paul was, shouting at the guy and punishing him like the fearless leader everyone made him out to be. More like the idiot who ran face-first into the dino's rear and miraculously sent the beast to its knees. Now that would have been fun. In fact, it would be worth working in a church.

Knowing Gatlin, that wasn't going to last long whether Paul liked it or not.

But the situation didn't matter anymore. It was gone, and they were back to a quiet...something. Then Rose got to thinking: After all this was over and the dinosaurians are gone for good, and Rose will make sure herself that the dinosaurians are wiped out, is this what life will be?

Rose growled and stood up. She wouldn't let that happen, but she certainly was not going to sit around and do nothing. Her dad was right; she should've joined the army. At least she'd be doing something all the time. Instead, she's waiting for someone to say, "To the chopper!"

The crowd of women plus Paul and Galtlin finally dispersed and headed toward the camp. Rose, who was about to go down herself, decided against it. Someone would just rope her into conversation, and Paul didn't seem like he was going to do anything anytime soon. Her eyes fell on the guard Samara. What Rose would give for her job right about now. Though Gatlin did take the glory she should've had.

And once again, Rose was left with the only option left: to wait.

Paul 2:50 -- Day 1

Finally calming down he glanced over to check on Sofie before glaring back at Gatlin. This wasn't the end of this he didn't doubt, once the Leader did decide to show himself, he'd certainly not give a good report on Gatlin. True Gatlin was a Council member but he added nothing but sheer arrogance to it.

Straining his hearing Paul swore he heard the low rumble of a chopper, taking his walkie talkie out, he yelled into the reciever, 'Rose what's going on out there, I know no one due out to look for people, so why is there a chopper landing?'

For a while there was no answer, 'It looks like it been in a fight... and it's make isn't Western.'

'Rose, i don't care about that, what's it doing here?'

Again there was no answer for a while, until a loud sigh was heard over it, 'Not like I had anything better to today...'

Once happy with that, he checked around for the council members, there was a meeting planned for today. And he didn't want to panic people needlessly so it was very 'hush-hush'.

Gatlin, 2:57 -- Day 1

Somewhere between Paul's reprimanding and the trio of girls melting over him, Gatlin lost his guardian's composure. Almost in a daydream, he scanned the hot, blurry scene for what everyone seemed to be looking at. They all turned in unison, and it had Gatlin intrigued. He turned his head around and back, and then to the next side, but couldn't find it. Just as he gave up searching, Samara jerked him around and pointed into the sky.

Gatlin's eyes perked, his blurry confusion lifting slightly. "Huh..." He grinned down at Samara and smirked. "Am I supposed to marvel at a beaten-up chopper?" Samara nudge-punched him and he looked back at the slightly wobbling aircraft. It was drawing nearer, and it was still his job to clarify air space. "Oh, right..."

With that, he began running down the stretch of the huge wall towards the gate tower. He took a breath in of hot, dry air and peered down at the two entering below. He considered it part of his job to scan newcomers for any talent that they may've had. And this particular pair was ripe for the picking. He wanted a better look, but Rose was blocking the way, checking passes and pulling her 'human lie detector' test on them. It was really all a load of shit, but it made her happy to be useful. For once. Gatlin stopped, thinking of the smack he should've gotten for that.

With Rose's signal, he flipped the switch to cut off the electric currents in the fence below and unlocked the main gate. The three slowly ushered in. That would be his last job as a guard.

Though... There was one final thing Gatlin had to do before being taken off sentry duty. He swung open the heavy doors to the watchtower and wired up the intercom system that ran through the entire complex. Picking up the microphone, he put on his deepest, sexiest voice and stifled his wild laughter as he made his own welcome for the newcomers. "All you cool cats and foxy mama's out there, let's give a sexy apocalyptic welcome for our newcomers..." He hesitated, burning his brain to think of what to call them. "All y'all show some sweet love for Slim, Fox, and... Pilot..."

He could hear the laughs already, so he shut down the system and slid out the other side to avoid any Paul encounter until later.

Rose Banks - 2:57

Rose scribbled something on a clipboard as the visitors stood there, waiting. "I don't know what meeting you're talking about, and so I apologize," she finally said, looking up from her clipboard. Her voice hesitated as she saw Gatlin run out of the watch tower. She smirked. "However, I can show you exactly where Mr. Paul McClonian is."

"That will be sufficient," the man responded.

"All right, give me one quick moment," Rose said, her pen scribbling swiftly down the clipboard. "Your ride is in good hands, rest assured. I'll speak with the pilot about any further check-ups for your eventual departure."

"Very well," he said.

Rose finished marking down their information and looked up at them, ready to go. "If you will follow me?" She tossed the clipboard down on a shelf as they walked off the helicopter pad and into camp. They didn't care to have any conversation; Rose liked that. There was no time for leisure discussions during these times.

They stepped outside into the facility, and it was rather obvious where Paul was. Gatlin was cornered by Paul once again. A group of girls whispered amongst each other not too far away from them. Rose stopped leading them, nodded to herself as how awkward this was about to be, and turned toward the group. "Excuse me."

She pulled out her talkie as she turned her back on the group and muttered into it, "Mr. McClonian, you have visitors." She let go of the button, and swiveled around again. "He seems to be distracted at the moment, but rest assured, he will arrive very soon. You don't know where your meeting is held, do you?"

"There's obviously a reason you don't know about this meeting," the man said bluntly. "We will wait."

"Then wait you shall," Rose replied respectfully.